The British economy is starting to heal and there is reason for hope if it can sustain the growth momentum, Bank of England Deputy Governor Paul Tucker said in remarks published in a newspaper on Wednesday. "If we can just sustain it for a few more quarters we really can begin to turn the corner again," he told the Journal during his visit to northeast England. "We shouldn't get too excited by one quarter but looking over the past year it's perhaps not as bad as the headline figures suggest, so I think there's a long way to go but there's certainly reason for hope," Tucker said. The economy expanded 0.3 percent in the first quarter from a quarter ago, when it contracted 0.3 percent, official data revealed last week. Tucker said that the Bank of England's Funding for Lending scheme did not help SMEs as much as it did for larger firms and mortgages. "Now we will have to wait for a couple of quarters to wait and see what difference it makes," he told the newspaper. "This no silver bullet but we should do what we can to improve the supply of credit in the economy and I think this can be a real help," Tucker was quoted as saying. Regarding his suggestion in February of having negative interest rates, Tucker said "It's most unlikely" to happen